


Playoff Bound

by TheRev28



Category: Love Live! Sunshine!!, プラオレ！ | Pride of Orange!
Genre: Gen, Ice Hockey AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-18 18:55:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29738376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheRev28/pseuds/TheRev28
Summary: Team Aqours needs a win in their final game to reach 100 points and make the Love Live Playoffs. Unfortunately, they need to go through one of the best teams in the league, Pride of Orange, to get there.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5
Collections: Idol Fanfic Heaven's Wake Up Challenger Event 2021





	Playoff Bound

Kanan led her team onto the ice and began her customary two circuits around their half of the ice. She tried not to let the importance of today’s game get to her. It was difficult, though; if Aqours wanted to make the playoffs, they _needed_ a win to turn their 98 points into 100. And not only did they need a win, they needed a _regulation_ win—winning on OT wouldn’t cut it.

As if that weren’t bad enough, they were up against one of the best teams in the league: Pride of Orange (often shortened to Puraore). Throughout the warmups, Kanan kept sneaking glances over to that half of the ice, trying to catch glimpses of their star players. 

Manaka Mizusawa caught her eye first due to the girl’s incredible speed. Puraore’s top center was blazing fast and had the footwork to break even the best defenders’ ankles. Her younger sister, Ayaka, was just as feared, despite technically playing defense. She was practically the poster child for the new age of shorter, fast, offensive defenseman. Meanwhile, her defensive partner, Yu Kiyose, was everything you wanted in a stay-at-home defenseman: solid, dependable, and almost impossible to get the better of. 

Other talented skaters included forwards Riko Saginuma and Mami Ono, and defenseman Naomi Takagi. Their goalie, Kaoruko Yanagida, rounded out their core of excellence. She led the league in shutouts and save percentage, proving to be a hindrance against even the best offenses.

That wasn’t to say that Aqours wasn’t a good team in their own right. Kanan loved her team like sisters. Her linemates, Yō and Mari, just clicked together; she never had to think about where they were or what they were doing—she just knew. Meanwhile, the sisterly duo on the back end was nothing to sneeze at: If Kanan thought she had good chemistry with Yō and Mari, it was nothing compared to what Dia and Ruby had. And Yoshiko in goal? Practically unstoppable. Well, at least when the puck luck was on her side. 

As Kanan skated along her side of the red line, Mizusawa met up with her.

“Good luck today, Matsuura!” she said, completely sincere. “I always have a ton of fun playing against you girls, and with the standings being what they are, I’m expecting a lot of fight from you.” She finished it off with a smile and a wink.

“Let’s see if you can actually beat me in the faceoff circle this time, Mizusawa,” Kanan said with her own smile, unable to resist a little chirping. The other girl just laughed it off and skated back to her half of the ice.

Soon enough, the warmups ended and the real game began.

It was a fast-moving, hard-fought game, just as expected. There were hardly any whistles, just good, solid, back and forth hockey. Both goalies absolutely stood on their heads, making incredible saves to keep their team in the game. Yoshiko had stoned the older Mizusawa sister on a breakaway in the first period, and Yanagida had absolutely robbed Mari on a diving save in the second.

By the third period, it was clear that everyone on both teams was getting tired and a little frustrated. Scoreless games were tough on the nerves, especially as time ticked down. For Aqours, though, the pressure was on. They _needed_ to win in regulation, whereas Puraore would be perfectly fine if the game went to OT.

The whistle blew as Yanagida covered the puck. Kanan had wanted to take a few more pokes at it, but the refs just weren’t having it. Taking a few deep breaths, she looked up at the scoreboard to see how much time was left: 28.4 seconds. The game was still tied 0-0, and Aqours was running out of time. 

She started skating over to the faceoff circle, but she quickly heard a shout from over by the benches.

“Timeout!” Coach Takami called out. 

The ref blew the whistle again, and each team headed back to their respective benches. Kanan’s best friend and winger, Yō, skated up next to her and tapped the back of Kanan’s legs with her stick.

“Close one on that deflection,” Yō said. “Really thought you snaked it by Yanagida.”

“I just wish the refs would have let me poke at it a bit more,” Kanan said after chewing on her mouth guard a little. “Then again, Kiyose probably would have nailed me. She’s super protective of her goalie.”

“What, you don’t think Dia would do the same for Yoshiko? You think she hasn’t already done so this game?”

Before Kanan could answer, they made it back to the bench.

“Top line, you’re gonna be back out there after the timeout, so hurry up and rest,” Coach Takami said as the team and Assistant Coach Sakurauchi huddled around her. “I don’t need to tell you girls how important these last 28 seconds are, so I won’t. Matsu, how confident do you feel on the faceoff?”

“Pretty good,” Kanan said. “I’m pretty sure I’ve got Mizusawa figured out, so I can probably send it where you want me to.”

“Good, then get it back to the point so Diamond can quarterback. Kuny, you hang back a little and make sure nothing sneaks out of the zone, alright?” Hanamaru nodded, and Coach continued. “Watty and Shiny, try to get open along the half-wall, see if you can’t set up a cross-ice feed.” Yō saluted, and Mari just nodded. “Rubes, look for chances to feed your sis for a one-timer, and Matsu, you know what to do if you see one of those coming right?”

“Be the biggest nuisance I can be,” Kanan said with a half grin. Coach returned the expression. 

“We got this, girls. Now go out there and turn that zero into a one!”

The whole team cheered in agreement. 

“You better not make my shutout be for nothing,” Yoshiko said from her spot at the end of the bench. “I bailed all of you out on that breakaway, so now it’s time to repay the favor!”

The rest of the girls laughed as the ref blew the whistle, signaling the end of the timeout. Kanan skated over to the faceoff circle left of the goalie and took her place. She made note of where Dia had set up behind her in preparation for the faceoff. A moment later, her opponent, Mizusawa, took up the position opposite.

The linesman skated over with the puck, and the two centers crouched down and waited for the drop. Mizusawa had a forehand grip going, and Kanan knew it’d be a piece of cake to lift the other girl’s stick and send the puck right back to Dia.

When the linesman dropped the puck, that’s exactly what happened. Kanan won the faceoff directly to Dia and hurriedly took her place in front of the net. Unfortunately, that put her into an immediate net battle with Puraore’s star defenseman, Yu Kiyose. Despite being a few centimeters shorter, Kiyose was an incredible net-front battler. It took all of Kanan’s skill to remain planted in front of the goalie, trying to take her eyes away, while also following the puck, herself.

With 15 seconds left, Mari had the puck along the right half wall, and Kanan saw the winger look past her to the far left side of the ice. The gleam in her eye just _screamed_ “pass.” Yō must have been getting open on her side.

Just as expected, the pass came, but as Mari released the puck, she made eye contact with Kanan and winked. That’s when Kanan realized the pass was intended for _her_ , not Yō. She twisted her body to get her stick back on the ice, understanding what Mari wanted to do. Time seemed to slow down as the puck came her way.

Yanagida had already pushed off her post, anticipating the cross-ice pass. With her legs fully extended, her five hole was wide open. Kanan angled the blade of her stick at just the right angle and right as the puck reached her. She felt the impact as the puck deflected off her stick, redirected straight through the five hole and into the back of the net.

Time resumed its normal flow, and Kanan fell to the ice to the sound of the goal horn going off. Right before her teammates dogpiled on top of her, she got a glimpse at the scoreboard.

She’d turned that zero into a one. _They_ had turned that zero into a one. And that 98 would become a 100!

They’d made it to the Love Live playoffs!

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, I feel like this one's gonna need a lot of explaining, lol. First off, this was written as part of the "Wake Up Challenger 2021" event over on the Idol Fanfic Heaven discord server (<https://discord.gg/CaqureT>)! This was prompt Hard-2: Write a crossover fic of at least 1k words.
> 
> I'm a huge ice hockey fan, and I've wanted an excuse to write LL girls playing ice hockey for a long time now. Well, there's an anime coming out in October 2021 called "Pride of Orange," which will be (to my knowledge) the first ever ice hockey anime! It's also stylistically similar to franchises like Love Live and Bandori (cute girls doing cute things). I am unreasonably excited for this show, and it gave me a perfect opportunity to complete a lot of goals at once: 1) I get to write my crossover for the event. 2) I get to write the LL girls playing hockey. 3) I get to write the first ever fic in the "Pride of Orange" tag.
> 
> To any future fans of Puraore who might find this fic, my apologies that it doesn't really feature the Puraore girls that much. All I had to work with for their characters was the first PV, so it's all practically a guessing game at this point. I do hope to write more for them one day, though! 
> 
> Anyway, long-winded explanation over. I hope you enjoyed this purely self-indulgent fic, lol.


End file.
